‘WWE Vintage Collection TV Report #76 – November 15th, 2009

Shown on Sky Sports in the U.K.

By Stephen Lyon.

This week: A look at the 1992, 1993 and 1994 Survivor Series ppv events. High Energy, two versions of the Headshrinkers, patriotic Taker, ICOPRO t-shirts, a future Finnish parliament member, and Diesel getting a super mega-push before turning on Shawn Michaels. What more could anyone want on a nostalgia show?

The Show:

1) The Headshrinkers (w/Afa in their corner) defeated High Energy (Owen Hart & Koko B. Ware). This match was from the 'WWF Survivor Series 1992' pay-per-view event, held in Richfield, Ohio on November 25th, 1992. Announcers for this match were Vince McMahon & Bobby Heenan. Match was joined in progress, with Fatu working over Koko B. Ware, who was clad in his 'High Energy' wrestling attire of lime-green baggy clown pants, with black and white chequered print on the sides and braces to hold up the baggy clown pants. Owen was wearing similar attire, except his clown pants were predominately purple. Afa was at ringside in the Headshrinkers corner, with a huge turkey drumstick hanging out of his mouth. Anyway, Fatu destroyed Ware for several minutes, before Owen was able to tag in. Owen gave Fatu a back body drop, then connected with a flying body press on Samu. He used an enziguiri kick on Fatu, before he tried another crossbody block on Samu, only to be caught in mid-air and powerslammed. They went to the finish, with Samu standing in the corner, and Fatu climbing to the top rope, then jumping off Samu's shoulders and splashing Owen to grab the pinfall win.

Next came Survivor Series 1993, and we got some recap videos building up the All-Americans vs Foreign Fanatics match. Clips were shown from the October 30th, 1993 edition of 'WWF Superstars', where Ludvig Borga defeated Tatanka (Tatanka's first televised loss in the WWF), pinning him with one finger after using a steel chair behind the referee's back. Afterwards, Yokozuna came to ringside and gave Tatanka the Bonzai splash. Lex Luger tried to make the save, only to be jumped by the Quebecers in the aisle. As a result of this match and angle, Tatanka - doing an injury angle - was taken out of the All-Americans team. Next came a clip from the November 14th, 1993 edition of 'WWF Superstars', where Lex Luger & the Steiner Brothers did an interview in the ring, and introduced Tatanka's replacement and their new partner, The Undertaker. Undertaker came to the ring, cut a promo, then opened his long black coat to reveal the inside of his coat had the U.S. flag on the inside lining, fitting the 'All-American' theme of the team. Next came a clip from the following day, the November 15th, 1993 edition of 'WWF Monday Night Raw', where Lex Luger beat Pierre Oulette, knocking him out with a forearm shot, and causing him to be pulled from the 'Foreign Fanatics' team. Finally, a Jim Cornette promo from the November 21st, 1993 edition of 'WWF Superstars', where Cornette (alongside all the other remaining members of the 'Foreign Fanatics' team), introduced Pierre Oulette's replacement, the newly-heel Crush.

2) The 'All-Americans': Lex Luger & The Undertaker & The Steiner Brothers (w/Paul Bearer in their corner) defeated the 'Foreign Fanatics': Yokozuna & Ludvig Borga & Crush & Jacques Rougeau (w/Jim Cornette & Mr Fuji & Johnny Polo in their corner) in a Survivor Series elimination match, with Luger pinning Borga to become the sole survivor. This match was from the 'WWF Survivor Series 1993' pay-per-view event, held in Boston, Massachusetts on November 24th, 1993. Announcers for this match were Vince McMahon & Bobby Heenan. Match was joined in progress, with Ludvig Borga throwing Rick Steiner to the outside. Steiner climbed back in the ring and had some offence, but when he attempted a bulldog from the top rope, Borga caught him and slammed him, before pinning and eliminating him. Next, Crush squared off with Scott Steiner, with the two trading power moves. In the middle of their battle, a crazed Macho Man Randy Savage (said to be 'banned from the building' for his own protection - Crush had turned heel weeks earlier by turning on his friend Savage and severely beating him up) tried to run down the aisle to attack Crush. A plethora of agents and wrestlers not booked on the card attempted to stop him. I spotted Pat Patterson, Rene Goulet, J.J. Dillon and the Smoking Gunns, amongst others; Bart Gunn was in fact wearing an ICOPRO t-shirt.

Anyway, Savage was dragged to the back, as Crush military-pressed Steiner, dropping him over the top rope to the outside. Minutes later, Savage came out again, and this time Crush and Savage brawled in the aisle and to the back, with Crush being counted out. After a commercial break, Luger squared off with Jacques, pinning him almost straight away with an elbow drop from the top rope. Scott Steiner was tagged in and faced off with Yokozuna. Steiner actually tried for the Frankensteiner on him, like that move was going to happen. He missed and landed on his back. Yoko dropped a big leg on him and pinned him. This left Luger & Taker vs Yoko & Borga. Yoko worked over Luger for a bit, before Taker was tagged in. The story here was Taker no-selling everything, giving Yoko a DDT. Yoko hiptossed Taker, but Taker sat up. Yoko gave him a legdrop, then the Bonzai splash in the corner. Instead of pinning him, Yoko went for a second Bonzai splash, and this time, Taker sat up, and Yoko landed on his butt in the ring. The two brawled around the ringside area, both being counted out. It was put over strong that Yoko was scared of Taker. This left Luger vs Borga. Borga dominated Luger, giving him several suplexes, before both guys clotheslined each other simultaneously. With Cornette and Polo distracting the referee, Mr Fuji handed Borga the salt bucket, which Borga nailed Luger with. Luger recovered quickly though, eventually pinning the future member of the Finnish parliament with a forearm shot. 

3) The 'Bad Guys': Razor Ramon & 1-2-3 Kid & Davey Boy Smith & The New Headshrinkers (Fatu & Sionne - formerly 'The Barbarian') (w/Afa & Captain Lou Albano in their corner) defeated the 'Teamsters': Shawn Michaels & Diesel & Jeff Jarrett & Owen Hart & Jim Neidhart, in a Survivor Series elimination match, when somehow Razor Ramon finished the sole survivor.  This match was from the 'WWF Survivor Series 1994' pay-per-view event, held in San Antonio, Texas on November 23rd, 1994. Announcers for this match were Vince McMahon & Gorilla Monsoon. Davey Boy Smith squared off with Owen Hart at first, and these two worked great together, surprise surprise. Jim Neidhart tagged in and was almost immediately pinned by Smith after a standing suplex. Fatu tagged in to square off against Jeff Jarrett, but this was kind of spoilt because they were doing a dumb gimmick at the time where Captain Lou Albano (now co-managing the New Headshrinkers - Samu had been fired and replaced with Sionne, formerly the Barbarian) was forcing the Shrinkers to become more civilised and wear wrestling boots, and Fatu kept selling that he was unsteady on his feet and kept wanting to take off his boots and wrestle barefoot. Fatu tagged Razor in, and Razor and Jarrett squared off briefly, before Jarrett bailed. Next came the story of the match, as Diesel tagged in.

Diesel, getting a huge push and would go on to win the WWF title from Bob Backlund just days after this pay-per-view event, clotheslined and jack-knife powerbombed Fatu almost straight away, pinning him for the elimination. 1-2-3 Kid came in, and despite being briefly staggered by a Kid dropkick, Diesel picked him up and dropped him on the back of his neck. He then jack-knife powerbombed him, pinning him with one foot on his chest. Victim #3 was Sionne, who was pinned after another jack-knife powerbomb. Diesel wanted to tag out but Michaels - wearing his mullet in a plaited ponytail - wouldn't let him and insisted he finish off the whole team. Diesel gave Davey Boy Smith a big boot to the face, knocking him to the outside where he was counted out. This left Razor Ramon in a 1-on-5 situation. Razor had more offence against Diesel than anyone else, but Diesel gave him snake eyes in the corner, and gave him a jack-knife powerbomb. At that point, Michaels wanted the tag in, and Diesel, instead of pinning Ramon, obliged. As soon as Michaels was in the ring, he wanted the weary Diesel back in the ring again, to do more of his dirty work. He asked Diesel to hold up Ramon for Michaels to superkick him. Of course, Ramon ducked and Michaels superkicked Diesel 'by accident' - for the third time (they'd been teasing the split for a while, since Summerslam 1994). This time, Diesel was pissed, and angrily went after Michaels, stalking him to the back as Michaels ran away in a panic. Owen, Jarrett and Neidhart all tried to stop Diesel, but all three were thrown aside. Inexplicably, not only was Shawn Michaels (the only legal man) counted out, but so were Diesel, Owen, Jarrett and Neidhart, all counted out simultaneously. The weirdest thing was between the referee starting his count and the bell ringing, only 45 seconds elapsed, so he couldn't have counted out all five guys legitimately. Anyway, Razor Ramon was announced as the winner and sole survivor.

After the match, they showed Todd Pettengill interviewing Shawn Michaels backstage, with Michaels carrying his bags and running to a waiting car. Michaels called Diesel a 'zero' and a 'nothing' without him, as he made his quick getaway.     

Closing thoughts: Average show this week. High Energy vs the Headshrinkers was just a throwaway match. Second match was pretty bad, with the likes of Luger, Borga, Yoko and Crush in there. Final match had a lame ending, but told a good story and featured a perfectly done babyface turn for Diesel, who was booked to look so strong in preparation for his lengthy run as WWF Champion.

Match Results:

1) The Headshrinkers (w/Afa in their corner) defeated High Energy ('WWF Survivor Series 1992' pay-per-view event - Richfield, Ohio: 25/11/92).

2) The 'All-Americans': Lex Luger & The Undertaker & The Steiner Brothers (w/Paul Bearer in their corner) defeated the 'Foreign Fanatics': Yokozuna & Ludvig Borga & Crush & Jacques Rougeau (w/Jim Cornette & Mr Fuji & Johnny Polo in their corner) ('WWF Survivor Series 1993' pay-per-view event - Boston, Massachusetts: 24/11/93).

3) The 'Bad Guys': Razor Ramon & 1-2-3 Kid & Davey Boy Smith & The New Headshrinkers (Fatu & Sionne) (w/Afa & Captain Lou Albano in their corner) defeated the 'Teamsters': Shawn Michaels & Diesel & Jeff Jarrett & Owen Hart & Jim Neidhart ('WWF Survivor Series 1994' pay-per-view event - San Antonio, Texas: 23/11/94).

Please note: I DO NOT sell DVDs or tapes of any of these shows. Sorry!

I hope you enjoyed this week’s report. For other reports like this one, be sure to check it out my website archive at http://www.classicwrestlingreports.com .

It’s no longer updated, but this website carries all of my previous WWE Classics tv reports that have been featured on the old WrestlingObserver.com website.

As always your questions, comments and thoughts are always welcomed, and you can contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Until next week, have a good week.

Stephen Lyon,
St Helens, England, U.K.